Pajamas
by Selina Novella
Summary: What Thor had asked about Darcy during the Avengers, and Shield had picked her up? How would Darcy's presence change the events that occurred in the Avengers?
1. Chapter 1

Pajamas

Part 1

Bye Selina Novella

Darcy had been in her pajamas and a facial masque when the Men in Black had broken down her door. It was a NICE door too. Mahogany. She'd been house sitting for her aunt and uncle in New York, drinking wine, watching the Big Bang Theory, and refusing to see anyone today, cause you know what? She deserved it! She'd dealt with the whole Norse God of hotness landing on her car, the Men in Black stealing her iPod, and being attacked by the iron giant. She'd finished her degree (finally) and was taking a break before finding a job. So this? Not in the agenda!

So now here she was, on a FLYING battleship, in a room with Tony FREAKING Stark, Thor, CAPTAIN AMERICA, one of her old professors who apparently turned into the Hulk as a hobby (and what was with Culver attracting the weird anyway?), a very scary woman, and a very large black man with one eye and a potty mouth. Oh, and Agent I-stole-your-iPod-and-now-I'm-pretending-it-never- happened. And she was still in her tank top and shorts combo pajamas with Pinkie Pie on them. At least one of the agents had let her wash her face mask off, so she didn't have flaky green skin. She had a feeling people with green skin made these guys trigger happy.

"Ok, not to be rude or anything, but WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING HERE?!" she demanded, glaring at the angry pirate man, her hands on her cutie marked hips.

"Oh, I like her." She heard Stark tell Professor Banner in a stage whisper. She had to fight down a grin. Tony Stark thought she was cool!

Cyclopes man looked unimpressed though. "You have been brought here, against my better judgment, because an important individual wanted you safe. Your apartment was deemed unsafe. So you have been brought here. I expect you to conduct yourself like a sensible human being, and remember the NDA's you signed during the New Mexico incident." He glowered at her.

Darcy rolled her eyes. "I never act like a sensible human being, you can ask Professor Banner."

Banner looked pained. "She blew up one of the fraternities with a flour bomb on parent's weekend, because one of them had groped her."

"That was never officially proven." Darcy replied lightly, grinning cheekily at the professor before swinging back to glare at Scary Man. "So basically Thor asked you to give me a lift, and since he's a god and a prince and could swat you like a bug, you said 'okie dokie loki' and now here I am. So where's Jane?"

"Dr. Foster is safe. She's currently at the observatory in Traunsee as a consultant." Agent I-won't-make-a-facial-expression-if-it-kills-me replied evenly.

Darcy turned sharply to look at Thor. "You brought me here but not Jane?! You better have a damn good explanation or I will tase you again."

"She tased you? She tased the 'god of thunder'?" Stark demanded, looking delighted.

"The Lady Jane was removed from danger without my needing to ask." Thor explained, looking like a sad puppy. "The men of Shield were kind enough to anticipate my wish to protect her. They did not however, realize that you, Lady Darcy, were also of importance to me."

Awww. How can she be mad at that? Darcy smiled at him. "Okay then. So what exactly are we being protected from?"

"His name is Loki." Scary red-headed lady said quietly from her chair. "He's trying to take over the world."

Darcy blinked. "Loki as in your brother Loki?" she glanced at Thor, who sadly nodded. "And I thought you ruled the world?" she asked Tony Stark, who grinned, crossing his arms behind his head casually. "Yeah, guess he didn't get the interplanetary memo."

"Well that's not good. So where is he?" she asked, pulling up a chair next to Professor Banner whom everyone but Stark seemed to be giving a wide berth. And what was up with that anyway? She'd always thought he was adorable, and he always seemed amused when she flirted with him in class before he ran off after that thing with the military.

Banner edged away from her slightly, and replied. "In my cell."

"A cell? Why do you have a cell? Why does he have a cell?" she demanded, looking between Banner and the rest of the table.

"He turns into an enormous green rage monster. For some reason that makes Shield think it has the right to build a cage for him. Rude right?" Tony grinned.

"Totally rude." Darcy agreed.

They both turned and glared at Fury, who looked unimpressed. Professor Banner hunched his shoulders, looking embarrassed. "Ms. Lewis, please stop encouraging him," he muttered to her quietly.

"Stark, if you would like to stop lecturing me, and focus on the problem at hand, perhaps Doctor Banner would escort you to the lab so you can try to trace the Tesseract?" Fury rumbled at them. "In the mean time the rest of us can work on a few scenarios for dealing with an extra terrestrial threat."

Captain America nodded gravely, and wow, no way that bod was natural. Scary lady and Thor nodded their agreement.

"Ms. Lewis I assume you can function as a lab assistant, despite your lack of discipline?" Fury demanded, glaring at her.

"As well as you can fly a battle ship with one eye." She chirped back. No way he was intimidating her. Ok he did, but that just made her mad and snarkier than usual. "We can discuss my wages for working later," she added, just to watch his eye twitch.

Professor Banner shook his head and gently took her arm, tugging her into a hallway, Tony Stark following behind after blowing Fury a kiss.

Darcy was told to entertain herself while Professor Banner and "Call me Tony, Gorgeous" Stark played pretty, pretty princess with a magic scepter.

"So for Loki to activate the cube he'd need a power source, any ideas?" Tony asked Banner as they worked between two clear hanging computer screens.

"He'd need to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Banner replied, most of his attention focused on the computer.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect. Lewis, you worked with Selvig. Think he could do that?" Tony asked her.

"Not sure about Eric, his stuff was all too theoretical for me to follow. But Loki probably knows. Thor told Jane that science and magic are the same thing and some of the stuff we saw Thor and the Destroyer doing? Tunneling stuff would be a cinch." Darcy replied, playing with Tony's phone and texting someone named Jarvis.

"Okay, so let's assume they can do that, they could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet," Professor Banner said.

Tony looked at him like Christmas had come early. Professor Banner noticed, and turned away, blushing slightly. Awww! How cute! Darcy thought.

"The gamma readings from the scepter are definitely consistent with Selvig's earlier reports on the Tesseract, but it's going to take us weeks to process." He seemed disappointed.

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops." Tony grinned, pulling instruments Darcy didn't recognize from a box he'd brought with him.

"All I packed was a tooth brush." Banner murmured, looking amazed at the equipment like it was a glass of water in the desert.

"At least you got clothes." Darcy muttered. She hadn't gotten a chance to grab her toothbrush.

Tony grinned. "I like your sleepwear. Pinkie Pie's my favorite pony too. And they do show off your legs very nicely." He winked at her then turned back to Bruce. "You know, you should come by Stark Towers sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land."

Bruce ducked his head, obviously pleased at the offer but said, "Thanks, but last time I was in New York I kind of broke… Harlem." His happy expression turned grim and he turned away, walking over to scan the scepter with one of Tony's instruments.

Tony didn't give up though and followed him. "Well I promise a stress free environment. No tension, no surprises…" He then poked him with a tiny electric prod. Banner yelped and stared at him like he was crazy. Darcy cackled.

Tony looked at him closely. "Nothing?"

Captain America had apparently walked in while she was watching the Science Bros, because he grabbed Tony's arm and yelled at him, "Are you nuts!?"

"Jurys out." Tony assured him, turning back to Banner. "You've really got a lid on it haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, big bag of weed?"

"Oooh gimme!" Darcy grinned, making grabby hands.

"Is everything a joke to you two?" Rogers demanded, glaring at her and Tony.

"Funny things are." Tony replied, and wow, what was up with the tension between these two? It was around an 8.0 on the Richter scale!

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doctor." He glanced at Professor Banner warily.

Professor Banner looked sad, but resigned and replied, "No, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

Darcy quietly got up and stood next to him, silently offering her support. He obviously noticed and looked at her like he really wasn't sure she was entirely sane. But that was how people normally looked at her, so no big deal.

"You're tiptoeing big man. You need to strut." Tony smirked; she could almost see his brain laughing at the innuendo behind pointy things.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Captain glowered at him.

Tony glared. Darcy almost wished she had popcorn. Alpha Males Battle at Dawn. It could totally work as a tv show. "You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?" Steve asked, looking skeptical.

"He's a spy, Captain. He's the spy. His secrets have secrets." He pointed to Banner, who had gone back to his work, although Darcy could tell he'd already finished scanning that part of the scepter. "It's bugging him too, isn't it?"

Bruce shook his head. "I..I just wanna finish my work here and…"

"Doctor?" Steve asked, looking more concerned now.

Bruce sighed. "'A warm light for all mankind' Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it."

"I didn't." Darcy muttered.

"It was before you got there. I'll show you the video later." Tony muttered to her.

"Cool." She grinned. Being BFFs with Tony Stark was awesome.

Professor Banner pointed at Tony. "Well, I think that was meant for you. Even if Barton didn't post that all over the news."

"Stark tower? That big, ugly–" Tony raised an insulted eyebrow at Rogers, "building in New York?"

"I think it's awesome that you built yourself a giant penis monument and put your name on it." Darcy stage whispered. Tony smirked. Steve choked.

Like he was ignoring talking students (Which she had been) Banner continued "It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy sources. That building will run itself for what, a year?"

Tony replied lightly "That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

"So why didn't Shield bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business to begin with?"

Darcy sighed. "You just can't trust secret, shadowy government agencies anymore."

"I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of Shield's secure databases." Tony said casually, enjoying the look on Captain America's face.

"I'm sorry, did you say…" He stuttered, horrified.

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. When he wasn't flirting with Lewis on my phone." He glanced at her pointedly.

She had been flirting with a high tech AI? "That's awesome." She breathed, thrilled. Tony rolled his eyes, amused. "In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret Shield has ever tried to hide."

"Hey, let me know when you find out where they put my iPod." Darcy asked. What? Persistence is, like, half the battle!

"And you're confused about why they didn't want you around?" Cap demanded, ignoring Tony's offering of a blueberry. Darcy sensed this was a sneaky plan of Stark's to use positive reinforcement when he did something particularly awesome. Stark does awesome stuff, you get food. Therefore you like it when Stark does cool stuff.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically not awesome." Tony pointed out.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." Tony argued.

"And you're all about style aren't you?" Cap sneered.

"Of the people in this room, which of us is a. wearing a spangly outfit, and b not of use?" he shot back. Ooooh burn! Darcy grinned.

"Captain?" Darcy interrupted. He turned to look at her. "Look, I know you've not been around for a while, but really, Tony's right. A lot's happened since you were gone. Governments are not something to be trusted without question anymore. Yeah they're out for the greater good of their people in theory, but in general, they look out for themselves and what offers them power. The United States included."

Professor Banner nodded. "Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"

Cap looks torn. Finally he mutters, "Just find the cube." and stalks out the electronic door dramatically.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about? Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice." Tony muttered, annoyed.

"The guy's not wrong about Loki. He does have the jump on us." Bruce replied, fiddling with some of the imput levels on the Tesseract finding sensor.

"What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit." Tony argued. "It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm going to be there when it does."

"And I'll read all about it." Bruce replied, smiling slighty as he tossed some data over to Tony's screen.

"Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us." He fiddled with Bruce's program for a second, seemed to find it flawless and made his way over to Professor Banner.

Banner tried to ignore his approach, focusing on the screen in front of him. "Ah, see, I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare."

Tony frowned and tossed Darcy an assessing glance, she shrugged helplessly, before he turning back to Bruce. "You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart." He pointed at the circle of light that shown through his t-shirt. "This stops it. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege."

"But you can control it." Banner pointed out, tonelessly.

"Because I learned how."

He shook his head. "It's different." He turned back to the computer screen but Tony slid the data aside with his fingers so that the two were face to face, separated only by the clear screen.

"Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you."

"So you're saying the Hulk… the other guy… saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?" He glanced at her. "To scare and endanger my students? To break my school, my home, to almost break the people I love in half?" He's growling now, fighting down anger.

"Hey, stop it!" She hopped off the counter she was sitting on and glared at him. "I was there you know! Two years ago when the army came and started blowing stuff up? I was on the quad. Those guys nearly rolled me over in a tank! And you – or the other guy or whatever, he was protecting us. It was that asshat general who was the problem, not him. He just wanted to protect Doctor Ross and stop getting shot at, which duh, who wouldn't?"

Bruce shook his head, turning away. "Well I'm glad he helped you."

Tony looked at her appraisingly. "You want a job? I've got an opening for a PA." Darcy laughed.

They had been at it for hours, Darcy had gone back to her phone flirtation with Jarvis, and the two scientists limited their exchanges to data and science talk. Finally Tony leaned back and stretched.

"So, tell me about yourself Ms. Lewis." Tony ordered.

Darcy looked up from the phone. "I was born in New England, my parents died when I was 5 in a freak parachuting accident. The diver was drunk and didn't open his shoot, landed on my parents in our backyard and that was the end of that."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"No." Professor Banner said, shaking his head at her disapprovingly. "She makes up a new story every time. She told my class that her father was Deadpool and her mother was a Victoria Secret model."

"I'd believe it." Tony grinned, glancing pointedly at her rather awesome boobs. "Next time you can say you're my kid, it'll drive the press into a frenzy."

"Awesome!" Darcy grinned back, delighted.

"Please don't encourage her…" the professor said wearily, shaking his head. "The story about her being Deadpools kid got into the school newspaper and the next thing we knew he showed up."

Tony raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Deadpool, the merc with a mouth, the craziest assassin in history came to your college for Daddy-daughter time?"

Darcy grinned. "He likes to google himself. And hey, I could be his kid. I was adopted, I have no idea who my real parents are. He took me out for chimichangas and then we watched Golden Girls. Before he left he linked me to his tumblr. He mostly posts a lot of pictures of people he's killled, lolcats, and philosoraptor. And reblogs everything from his hashtag."

"Huh." Tony blinked. "What's his username?"

"ChimichangaKingIwillUnaliveu. He also gave me my taser, since I didn't want a gun."

"Your life is oddly facinating for a twenty something with no super powers." He told her, amused.

She rolled her eyes. "I know right?"

One of the screens lit up, a camera showing a guy who could only be Loki in those clothes, and the Scary Lady from before. They watched in silence as she subtly gets the information she needed from him.

"So he's trying to draw the big guy out?" Tony asked, turning to Bruce.

"Don't worry about it. It takes a lot to make me lose control these days." Bruce assured him.

Darcy whistles. "She's good. And scary. Very, very scary. And did he just call her a whiney pussy?"

"I think so, I'm not that good on Britisisms. She'll shake if off though. She's a spy and an assassin. She's my former PA." Tony replied, sending a glare at the screen.

Darcy blinked. "Those are very pointy high heeled shoes you want me to fill."

"As long as you don't stab me in the neck with a needle, you're golden."

She blinks at him. "Do your PAs usually want to stab you with needles?"

"Only on Tuesdays."

The phone she's been playing with beeps and Jarvis's text politely asks her to give the phone to Mister Stark. She obligingly hands over the phone. Tony grinned viciously. "I'll take government secrets for 500, Alex." He purred.

Darcy wasn't really surprised when one-eyed-pirate-man came bursting into the lab a few minutes later.

"What do you think you're doing, Mr. Stark?" he demanded angrily.

"Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you actually." Tony replied, not turning away from the data screens.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury ground out through clenched teeth.

"We are. The models locked and we're sweeping for the gamma signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Banner informed him, clearly not wanting to get involved.

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss." Tony finished, and then turned around the screen he'd been looking at. "What is phase two?"

With breath taking timing, Rogers entered the room and dumped a gun that looked like it fell out of a sci-fi film onto the counter with a bang. "Phase two is Shield used the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow."

Tony looked insulted.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, that does not mean that we're–"

"I'm sorry Nick," Tony interrupted as Jarvis pulled up a blueprint for what looked like a missile powered by the Tesseract. "What were you lying?"

"Ooooh, busted!" Darcy couldn't help adding. She really didn't like Fury, and she wasn't a fan of bombs either.

"I was wrong director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said, looking disappointedly at Fury.

The already crowded room became smaller as Scary Lady – Natasha according to Tony- and Thor walked in, her eyes focused on Professor Banner. Banner looked pissed. Military weapons were kind of a bad thing in his book nowadays Darcy supposed. She slipped back behind the table holding the scepter, feeling a little out gunned in a room full of super heroes.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce demanded.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment doctor?" Natasha asked in a forced calm tone.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." He smiled self deprecatingly.

"Loki's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why Shield is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction!" Darcy thought she knew the answer to that, but then she was a political science major, and had taken several classes on Cold War politics.

"Because of him." Fury pointed dramatically at Thor. Yup. Thought so.

"Me?" Thor asked, stunned.

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet!" Thor protested.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

Darcy's mind flits to the mutant population, to Spider-Man in New York, the Fantastic Four, and of course the people in this room. Mostly good people, but all people Fury couldn't order around. That had to scare the shit out of him.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve argued

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor said, refusing to accept the blame.

"A higher form?" Steve asked, looking haunted.

"You forced our hand! We had to come up with something." Fury replied, glaring at Thor for daring to question his judgment.

"Nuclear deterrent. Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony growls, looking frustrated.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury snapped.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark would be neck deep," Rogers started, agitated.

"Wait wait! Hold on! How is this now about me?" Tony interrupted, scowling

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Rogers shot back.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor boomed, annoyed.

"Excuse me, did we come to YOUR planet and blow stuff up?!" Fury snapped back.

"Do you always give your champions such mistrust? Perhaps Loki was correct and you do need a steady hand!"

Natasha looked frustrated with the bickering. "Are you all really that naïve? Shield monitors threats!"

"And Captain America is on a potential threat watch list?" Banner demanded, incredulous.

"You're on the list? Are you above or below angry bees?" Tony shot at the super soldier.

"I swear to God, Stark, one more crack…"

"Threatening! I feel threatened!"

Darcy noticed the scepter is glowing, and she kind of got the feeling that's a bad thing. Glancing at the arguing super heroes, she inched towards it.

"You speak of control yet you court chaos!" Thor bellowed.

"It's his M.O. isn't it? I mean, what are we a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos! We're a time bomb!"

"Miss Lewis, let go of that immediately!" Fury snarled abruptly.

Every eye in the room turned to glance at Darcy, who's cradling the scepter in her hands. "Hey, yeah, don't kill me, 'kay?" she whimpered, not liking the sudden attention.

"Darcy, what are you doing?" Thor boomed, concerned.

"Yeah, you guys start arguing, the scepter of doom turns into a glow stick. I'm seeing a connection. Kinda wondering if maybe breaking it might be a good idea?" she asked, now afraid to do so.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. It's what you should have done with the Tesseract to begin with." Steve said, stepping forward.

"No-bad idea!" Tony argued, "What if it's the off switch?"

"Why would it be the off switch Stark? Are you not telling us something?" Fury glared menacingly at the inventor.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Cause that's what always happens when you break the one of a kind shiny object? It's always important later?"

"I don't see how that makes sense," Rogers argued, but Darcy was trope savvy and nodded knowingly, stepping back from the scepter. "He's right."

"I think you don't want to destroy it because you want to play the hero." Steve growled, getting up in Tony's face. "You're just a petty little man playing at being a super hero. Take away that suit of armor, what are you?"

"Genius. Billionaire. Playboy. Philanthropist." Tony said, each word a slap.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire."

Steve gave a cruel smile. "Always a way out… you know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero. You are definitely not your father."

Tony looked ready to punch him. "A hero?! Like you? You're a lab rat Rogers, everything special about you came out of a bottle!"

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds!" Steve taunted and Tony looking ready to take him up on the offer.

Thor laughed humorlessly. "You people are so petty, and tiny."

Darcy gave him a glare. Rude!

Tony ran a hand through his hair, trying to cool off and moved away from the Captain.

"Yeah, this is a team..." Bruce muttered angrily.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his..." Fury started but Bruce interrupted, frustrated at people always trying to cage him.

"Where? You rented my room. Remember?"

"The cell was just in case..." Fury started, attempting to be soothing and failing miserably.

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Darcy's heart was in her throat and she felt like crying. The others were all silent. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk, including my student!" He waved vaguely at her as he looked at Romanoff, who is plainly unnerved.

"You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" he demanded.

Romanoff and Fury had their hands down to grab their guns. Darcy prepared to hide behind the table. Not having super powers SUCKED.

Steve stepped forward, putting himself on the wire. "Doctor Banner... put down the scepter."

Bruce looked down in surprise at his hand, a 'where did that come from?' expression on his face. The computer beeped. The frozen tableau was broken. They all turned to it, lost as to why it had beeped.

Tony blinked. "Huh. Found it."

Banner put down the scepter and walked over to the computer. "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all."

Thor asked "You have located the Tesseract?"

Tony nodded at him and went to leave the room. "I can get there faster."

Steve glared. "Look, all of us..."

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it!" Thor bellowed.

Steve interrupted Tony's departure. "You're not going alone!"

"You gonna stop me?"

Steve glared. "Put on the suit, let's find out."

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit." He ground out.

"Oh my god, just whip them out already!" Darcy couldn't help yelling. They all stared at her, except for Professor Banner, who was looking at the monitor and noticed something about the Tesseract. "Oh my God!"

Then the floor was moving under them, the wall had been blown out and then she knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2

Pajamas  
Part 2/3 By Selina Novella

Darcy awoke in what couldn't have been more than a few minutes after she fell, but it took her a minute or so to get her bearings. She was under what was left of the lab, covered in dust and small pieces of ceiling, or was that floor? She had a couple of scratches and what was going to turn into a fantastic bruise on her hip, but other than that she was fine. For now. She could feel that the helicarrier was flying funny and really didn't want to imagine what would happen if they fell from 30,000 feet up onto the very hard ground.

Black Widow was next to her, foot trapped under a piece of debris, and was talking into her ear piece and telling the other line those in the room were alright. Darcy watched, fascinated. The woman was really scarily efficient. She could see why she used to be Tony's PA, although she still wanted the background story on that. Then she watched the other woman pale, like all the blood in her whole body decided to migrate downwards. Darcy turned to figure out what had her scared and came face to face with Dr. Banner. He was breathing heavily, his eyes were a bright glowing green and his face was strained.

Oh.

Oooh!

Shit.

"I'm okay. We're okay, right?" Natasha asked softly, like she was afraid to do more than whisper.

Darcy watched, frozen, unable to breathe, afraid to break Bruce's concentration.

"Doctor… Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're going to be okay, just listen to me," Natasha pleaded.

Darcy noticed two soldiers with guns approaching the corridor they'd fallen on to and barely restrained herself from face palming.

That was just what this situation needed. Guns. Natasha noticed them too and waved them away frantically. "We're going to be okay. Right?" She was sweating bullets, becoming desperate. "I swear on my life, I will get you out of this, you will walk away and never…"

Bruce's voice was deep, bitter, and loud, when he answered. "**YOUR LIFE**?" Darcy watched, entranced and RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER, as his body was pulsed, his shirt straining and then tearing under the stress. The lights, which had been flickering, went out briefly.

"Bruce?" Natasha pleaded.

And then the lights turned back on and Bruce was gone, and it was just the Hulk, and Darcy had forgotten how big he was, the heat he gave off. She didn't move. It was like predators right? She thought; her mind racing at the speed of light. They only chase you if you move. It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. He doesn't want to eat you, so he should ignore you if you don't do anything to him. He might even remember her? And not smash?

He growled down at her, and she couldn't help trembling, and then of course, as usual when she didn't know what to do, her brain-to-mouth filter disengaged and she was babbling at an eight foot tall giant green angry monster shaped thing.

"Hi!" she squeaked looking up, up, up, up at him. "You probably don't remember me, you kind of saved my life a year ago? The army kind of tried to squish me with a tank? And you kind of threw it into a tree? So I think you're kind of awesome and green is one of my favorite colors, and you're green so it's like totally cool, and wow, I just sounded like a valley girl, which would be awesome if I had super powers like in Buffy, but I don't, and I squish very easily, so you know, don't want to undo your own work right? And I hated that Ross guy too, he was always stalking around campus like he owned it you know? And one time I got a bunch of the frat guys who owed me a favor for getting rid of a tracking ticket they got by hacking into the DMV and we ambushed him with water balloons and he got really mad and his faced turned really red and he looked really stupid with a red face and a mustache, he looked kind of like Uncle Vernon. I think you'd like Harry Potter, you could smash the deatheaters into paste." She paused for breath and he stared at her, still breathing hard, looking utterly unsure of what to make of her. She continued, still talking a mile a minute. "And I really liked Professor Banner's classes, even though it was just a Science 101 course and it was Science-Science, which really isn't really my thing, I like Political Science because it's fun to figure out loop holes and study people, and I think you're a people even though lots of people don't think so, and I think that's really crappy and they discriminate against mutants too and that's shitty of them too and please don't squash me." She stopped and blinked up at him.

"**TINY WOMAN TALK TOO MUCH." **He finally grunted at her, looking less inclined to break everything around him.

She grinned at him. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Sometimes they yell at me for it, but I'm like, well, haters gonna hate right?"

"**HATERS?" **he asked in his deep voice, looking puzzled and kind of like a big, scary puppy.

"Yeah, haters, you know? People who get mad cause you're way more awesome than them, and they're jealous? Like, they see you've got muscles the size of their heads and they get pee-their-pants scared and just shoot instead of actually talking to you?"

He gave a large snort that blew her hair around. "**PUNY SOLDIERS." **He glanced at her questioningly. "**HATERS."**

"You got it big guy."

He grinned, and wow those were large teeth. His dentist must make a fortune. Then he seemed to decide to sit on the floor next to her, which involved just sort of flopping onto the floor with the grace of an elephant, making her, Natasha, and the debris bounce about a foot in the air.

"**TINY WOMAN SMASH ROSS?"** he asked, looking amused at the idea.

"Well, water balloons, but it made him mad, and he couldn't do anything, so it was pretty funny." She scooted closer to him and patted one of his fingers that seriously? Was the width of one of her wrists.

He grunted, pleased. **"ROSS BAD. HURT HULK. HURT BETTY."**

"Oh Doc Ross? Yeah she's awesome. Really pretty, she looks like an elf or something," she replied absently. How was this her life? She's chatting with the Hulk about his girlfriend in her pajamas on a flying battle ship filled with spies and super heroes.

It was then that Natasha finally moved. She had been terrified; the idea of being trapped with the Hulk was one of the few things that could shake her. She'd assumed it would take Stark in his suit, Rogers, and Thor to simply slow him down. She was certain she would be dead by the time they managed it. Instead all it took was twenty-something, wearing My Little Pony pajamas babbling at him?! It was insane, but then so was everything lately.

The Hulk snarled at the movement, instantly on edge, ready to charge and presumably smash her into a puddle.

"Hey! No smashing Natasha!" Darcy found herself ordering, glaring at the green behemoth.

The Hulk looked frustrated. **"BAD LADY. AIM GUNS AT STUPID BANNER."**

Darcy took this in and glared at Natasha. "Well, that was very stupid of her, and she's very sorry. Aren't you Natasha?" she waved a hand as though to say 'say something stupid!'

"Yes. Very, very sorry," Natasha said faintly, eyes as wide as saucers. "I was… bad. Sorry."

The Hulk glared at her, and then finally sat down again with another thud, again causing them to bounce, and Natasha to hiss in pain as the beam covering her leg raised and then landed again.

Darcy noticed. "Hey big green, could you help Natasha? She's stuck." She looked up at the Hulk pleadingly, not sure if this would work, but hey, it was like Frankenstein and the little girl in that Mel Brooks movie right? Just be nice to the poor guy, and he'll be nice to you. Kindergarten stuff really. Governments are so stupid. And Natasha looked like she kind of wanted to kill her.

The Hulk frowned, as though deciding whether to listen to her or not.

"Pleeeeease? I'm not sure what you pick up from Professor Banner, but there are going to be a ton of things to smash later, and you like to smash, right? Natasha wants to do a bit of smashing too, but she can't do that if she's stuck," Darcy said and boy was she ever making this up as she went?

He looked amused. **"RED HAIR TINIER THAN TINY WOMAN."**

Darcy pouted. "Hey, I can smash! I tased Thor AND knocked him over with a van! And my names Darcy by the way." She added.

He snorted. **"HULK NOT NEED VAN TO SMASH."**

Darcy shrugged philosophically. "Well not everyone's as strong as you big guy. Or as handsome." She grinned cheekily up at him. He looked nonplused and for a moment she could see Bruce in his features. And yes, she was totally calling him Bruce now, because you can't charm a guy's green alter ego and still call him by his last name.

**"HULK HELP RED HAIR." ** He finally decided and lumbered over to Natasha, casually lifting the beam like it was a tooth pick.

"Thank you?" Natasha asked, lost and looking at Darcy for direction.

The Hulk grunted his acceptance.

At that point the helicarrier shuddered, and she could feel it change course, the whole thing was dipping downwards dramatically. Natasha looked upwards, obviously wanting to leave and help but afraid to move anywhere without the Hulk's permission.

"Any news on your magic communicator?" Darcy asked, amused when Natasha looked frustrated at herself for forgetting the small piece of plastic in her ear.

She slowly lifted her hand to her ear, watching the Hulk who seemed bored. "Control, this is Agent Romanoff, do you copy?"

"Romanoff! Get your ass to the bridge, we've got a perimeter [breach] and no one can find Banner!" Darcy could hear a squeaky version of Fury's voice from the com.

"Banner is currently…Hulked out. Lewis calmed him down," Natasha reported, glancing at the Hulk, afraid of offending him.

"LEWIS calmed him down?" Fury demanded, sounding like he thought she was making a very bad joke.

"Hey, I'll have you know I am very calming." Darcy protested.

Both Natasha and the Hulk looked at her like she was crazy, as Natasha gave Fury an affirmative.

Darcy pouted. Really, some people just had no appreciation.

"Never mind. Get up here as soon as possible. Hostiles have boarded, Stark and Rogers are trying to fix the broken engines. We could use the Hulk's help, and we definitely need yours."

Natasha's face shuttered closed. "Understood." She turned to the Hulk and asked politely, "We would appreciate your help, but I in no way mean to force you."

He looked amused at the idea. **"RED HAIR NO FORCE HULK. HULK LIKE TO SMASH." **He looked down at Darcy. **"TINY COME WITH HULK? WATCH SMASH?"**

Darcy grinned and stood up with a bounce. "Sure, I haven't seen you smash in ages."

Natasha looked like she wanted to argue, but said nothing. She led them through the labyrinth of the helicarrier toward the main bridge before stopping abruptly, her finger to her com, looking upset.

"It's Barton, he took out our systems. He's heading for the detention level, does anybody copy?" Fury again.

"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy." Natasha said, darting down a corridor, apparently forgetting about her companions.

Darcy had the feeling she was seeing more emotions from Natasha than most people saw from her in months. She looked up at Hulk, who looked as lost as she did. The agents streaming around them looked very nervous.

"Well, I guess we could follow her?" she asked, looking around in confusion.

She flagged down an agent and in her best Professor McGonagall voice demanded, "Where are the detention levels? We need to secure the prisoner."

The guy, who probably wasn't much older than she was, gestured to a sign above their heads that gave directions to various parts on the ship.

Darcy blushed slightly but brushed it off and with a, "Thank you young man." She grabbed the Hulk's index finger and led him down several flights of stairs. They passed Natasha who was grappling with a guy with really, _really_ blue eyes. Darcy decided that neither of their help was wanted or needed.

"I think we should go guard Loki," she said, glancing up at the Hulk, who seems kind of lost without something to do. "He's locked up right now but I think they want to get him out."

He scowled. **"HULK NOT GO IN CAGE."**

Darcy felt horrified. "Of course not! I would never put you in a cage! Never! The people who tried putting you in one should be the ones in cages. Not you."

He stooped down, suspicious, looking at her closely. She looked back, barely breathing, hoping he could see the truth in her eyes. Finally he grunted and nodded.

**"HULK PROTECT TINY. TINY PROTECT HULK. NO CAGES."**

"No cages." She agreed.

She's not surprised to find Thor already there. She is surprised to see _him_ in the cell, and Loki out of it. Both men look surprised to see her, and very surprised to see the Hulk.

"Well, this wasn't in my plans," Loki mused, his hands hovering over the control panel for the cage. "But I'm flexible."

"Let Thor go!" Darcy demanded, trying to sound brave, but it ended up more of a squeak.

Loki smirked at her, amused. "Such a poor choice of words."

Darcy's eyes widened in horror as he pressed the big red button and the cage, and inside it a heart broken Thor, went tumbling out of the air lock and out of sight.

Her eyes filled with angry tears, Jane would never forgive her for this. She would never forgive herself for this. She snarled at the god. "Hulk? You wanna smash something? Smash him."

The eager roar he gave made the room shake. Loki looked worried, glancing about for a way out. Only, when the Hulk charged forward, he went right through him. The Hulk growled, confused and angry.

Darcy turned, desperately looking for the missing God, only to shriek as she found him directly behind her.

"I know of you. You're one of Thor's little mortal pets, aren't you?" he crooned, reaching forward to hold her chin in a deceptively gentle looking hand. "I already took Selvig, he serves a purpose. But about you child? What do you have to offer?"

"I'm the chick with common sense." She snarled and jerked her knee up hard in between his legs. Thankfully, it seemed that alien physiology was similar enough to humans that it worked. He crumpled in on himself with a whimper, his eyes rolling up in his head in pain as he fell to his knees.

That was all the Hulk needed as he pushed Darcy aside and, grabbing the god's leg, began tossing him about like a rag doll, bashing his head on the floor. She couldn't help a slight wince at the sound of his skull cracking, the arc of blood that stained her bare legs, pajamas and face but the guy had killed her friend, so she refused to be squicked about it. Her body was shaking, and she wondered absently if she was in shock.

The door swooshed open and she blinked to find Agent I-always-show-up-after-shit's-gone-down on the other side, holding one of those phase two guns and looking as surprised as he ever got, eyes widening minutely.

"Miss Lewis, what exactly is going on?" he asked politely, taking in the blood on her, then the Hulk thoroughly enjoying himself, his eyes tracking Loki's arcing path through the air.

"He killed Thor!" she yelled furiously, pointing at the bloodied god, suddenly furious with the small man before her. "If you and your boss hadn't installed that _fucking_ cell none of this could have happened! And if you shoot Hulk with that thing I'll tase you till your heart stops and you get an aneurism in your stupid brain and die!" She might be a little hysterical too.

The Agent raised his eyebrows, looking vaguely concerned. "I have no intention of shooting anyone but Loki. I promise."

She eyed him warily before nodding her acceptance and then slumped against the wall, putting her head in her arms, desperately trying to hold back her tears. This wasn't the time. There would be time for this later. The Agent stood behind her, the gun still in his hands, almost protectively, observing the Hulk for a minute before stepping forward.

"Mr. Hulk? I believe he is unconscious. And you may have broken every bone in his body. Can you put him down now?" he asked in a measured polite tone.

The green giant paused and looked at him, growling at the sight weapon.

Agent I'm-not-stupid-enough-to-mess-with-the-Hulk slowly lowered the weapon, placing it on the floor next to Darcy, who nudged it away angrily. "See, no guns. Just me. My name is Phil." Oh was that his name? Darcy liked her names for him better. "We've met, do you remember?"

The Hulk snorted, unimpressed, and ignored him, turning to Darcy. **"TINY HURT?"**

She sniffled. "Just on the inside big guy," she replied tearily.

**"TINY SMASH PUNY GOD. MAKE HIM CRY. TINY DO GOOD," **he praised her, not sure what to do. Guess giant green rage men don't handle weepy girls any better than normal men, she thought.

"Thanks." She muttered, grabbing one of his fingers as he offered his hand to help her up. She looked at Phil and said, "You'll need to find Thor. Jane will want a funeral at least. And Asgard is probably going to want to hang Loki, or whatever they do there for killing their prince."

"He may not be dead. From what I've seen Asgardians can take quite a beating and get back up. I'll make sure we search the nearby area for him until we find him, dead or alive," he assured her. "In the mean time we need to get Loki to a containment area. I think, under the circumstances, medical help may be a while in coming." He gave a slight smile.

Darcy felt some of the weight lift. She had seen Thor die and literally come back to life after all. Still, 30,000 feet was a long way to fall.

They dropped Loki off in a regular cell, and Phil put the super gun back into a closet before they make their way to the bridge, Phil stopping here and there to check on agents. The Hulk showed no inclination to change back to Banner. Darcy didn't really mind, it's hard to be too scared when you're clutching the Hulk like a life preserver.

The helicarrier abruptly leveled off again, no longer falling, much to everyone around them's relief. Darcy spared a thought to hope that Tony was okay. She really liked the billionaire. When they finally got there the bridge looked like a battle zone, the previously pristine room was in shambles, injured personnel strewn around, bullet holes in everything, a computer was on fire, and a large black spot near where Fury stands looks like something blew up. The Hulk seemed uneasy, surrounded by people in uniform in such a small space (by his standards). Darcy hugged his finger reassuringly.

Fury saw them, though of course they were hard to miss, and waved them over. "Coulson, what the fuck happened? Communication is down and we're flying blind. Lewis, what the hell are you doing here?" he demanded, looking stressed, and unsure if he should address the Hulk or not.

"Thor went down with the cell, we need to locate him. Miss Lewis and the Hulk successfully contained and neutralized the prisoner. He's unconscious and unlikely to awaken any time soon. I would suggest pumping him through with enough tranquilizers to knock out a herd of elephants," Phil reported.

"Noted. I'll get someone on finding Thor as soon as I get communications up again. Maybe Stark's tech is still working." He then paused, and turned an incredulous stare at her. "Coulson, did you just tell me that Lewis helped neutralize LOKI!? Him I believe," he said, waving a hand at the Hulk, "but Lewis!?" He looked like he thought Phil might have taken a bump to the head.

**"TINY SMASH KNEE BETWEEN LOKI LEGS," **the Hulk told him. Darcy thought he might be proud of her. Fury's eye widened slightly, Darcy wondered if he thought the Hulk was too stupid to talk.

He then pinched his nose and muttered, "Of course she did. Any chance you wanna change back?" he asked, directing the later question to the Hulk.

**"NO."** he said simply, turning to watch the various personnel running around: tech trying to get the computers back on; medical trying to help the injured; and all of them giving those in the discussion a large berth.

"Alright then," Fury said, looking a bit helpless. "Lewis, could you and…" he glanced questioningly at the Hulk. "Do you have a name you prefer?"

**"HULK IS HULK. NOT STUPID BANNER,"** he replied, almost calmly for him.

"Right. Hulk. Lewis, could you and Hulk just stay in the conference area, please?" He looked liked it pained to say please to her. She counted it as a victory and gently tugged a big, green finger, leading him to the large glass table from what felt like years ago but was really only yesterday. Hulk was too big for the chairs and settled on simply sitting next to hers cross-legged, his legs brushing the bottom of the glass. Darcy sat and sagged sideways to lean against his hot skin, drifting in and out of exhausted sleep.

She was awoken by the arrival of Tony, his suit banged up and looking like a Siberian tiger used it as a scratching post. He patted her tiredly on the shoulder. "Heard you sacked Loki. I'll have Jarvis get the video and frame it for you."

She gave a slightly exhausted laugh. "Thanks. I can hang it up next to my degree."

He grinned, still handsome despite his injuries, and turned to the Hulk. "Hey big guy. We haven't met, but I'm a big fan."

Her body pillow sort of blinked at him, curiously. Suddenly everyone wanted to be his friend, which had to be kind of weird for a guy who's spent most of his life being shot at with larger and larger guns.

Tony, not at all insulted by the lack of a response, pressed a button on his suit which caused it to shift into a suit case, totally unconcerned about aggravating the Hulk by doing so. He then sprawled into his chair, left only in a black body suit. "I could really use a cheeseburger right now."

"I could eat a cow." Darcy replied.

The Hulk huffed a laugh and brought up a large hand to pet her hair. Darcy really couldn't find it in her to mind, even if he could crush her with a flick of his finger. Tony observed, a small grin pulling at his mouth. He winked at her but said nothing about it. "I offered this to Bruce, but I'll offer it to you too, Big Green: you're welcome to stay at my place. I'll have all the food you can eat and you can smash whenever you want. You wouldn't be hunted anymore either, no one would dare to try to argue with me. Not after the Hammer incident." He gave her a pointed look. "I've offered your girl there a job too. She's welcome to stay in the tower." He turned back to the Hulk, looking sympathetic. "You wouldn't have to run anymore."

The Hulk grunted. **"HULK NOT RUN. BANNER RUN. HULK STAY WITH TINY."**

Darcy was pretty sure she was blushing. She knew the Hulk probably didn't mean it in a romantic way and Bruce had been pretty much tied to the hip with Doctor Ross before the incident, and there was no reason to think he thought of her that way at all. But that didn't mean she didn't kind of wish he did. Tony looked determined. She had a feeling Bruce was going to be wooed like he'd never been before; Tony wasn't going to give up on the scientist.

Rodgers came into the room in his under suit, looking exhausted and a bit baffled by her using the Hulk as a body pillow, but seemed to decide it wasn't his problem. He sat down across from her, rested his head on his arms, and seemed to go to sleep.

"So what happened? Where's point break?" Tony asked, glancing around curiously.

Darcy stiffened, and then replied. "Loki tricked him; he got dropped while in the cage. We're not sure if he's…" She stopped and shook herself. Think positive! She told herself firmly.

Tony frowned and pulled out his phone. "Jarvis? Start searching for Thor. Check CCTV cameras, aerial satellites, police, and ambulance radio, hospital patients accepted in the last half hour, and social media sites. If someone finds him, I wanna know about it."

"Of course, Sir," came a clear British voice from the speaker.

Darcy grinned. Her AI flirt buddy was British. Win.

Fury made his way over, glancing around at the battered group of heroes, Tony tossing a piece of debris at Rogers head, waking him up. "We're dead in the air here, gentlemen."

Tony cleared his throat pointedly, glancing at her.

Fury rolled his eye. "And lady." Not wanting to argue the point, and looking tired. "I'm afraid I've got nothing. The scanners with the information on the location of the cube was lost when the lab was blown up, Loki's not in any condition to tell us anything, Thor is on the ground somewhere, and we've still got an army on their way and no idea where. Our communications are out. I'm out of ideas."

"Maybe you can use your fancy phase two weapons on them." Tony said with a glare. "Unless, of course, you had Justin Hammer on the designing team. Then I'd suggest you just roll over, play dead and hope the aliens don't stick a probe up your ass."

Fury sighed. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. But _I_ never like to put all my chips on a single number. There was an idea," he said, carefully looking each of them in the eye. Darcy sensed a speech coming on. "Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles we never could. To save the world."

Tony rolled his eyes, looking less than won over, but Rogers leaned forward, not as jaded as the rest of them when it came to dramatic and moving speeches. "You just said there's nothing to be done. We're stuck in the air, we have one phone?" he glanced at Tony for confirmation, "Between all of us. We have injured men and no idea where Loki was going. What exactly do you want us to do sir?"

Fury didn't seem to have an answer for this. He glanced at Tony. "Any ideas you come up with would be helpful."

Tony ran a hand through his matted hair. "And the fate of the world once again rests on my very attractive shoulders," he muttered. "Can we at least get some coffee in here? Lewis looks ready to blow away in a strong breeze, and even Rogers looks beat."

Phil nodded briskly, moving to speak to one of the agents sweeping up the mess. The man nodded and left the room.

Tony suddenly started looking around, curious. "Where'd Natalie go?" he asked Fury, looking slightly concerned.

"Agent Romanoff is seeing to Agent Barton. She used cognitive recalibration in an attempt to dislodge the Tesseract's hold on his mind." Fury replied.

"What's that mean?" Steve asked.

"She hit him really hard on the head." Tony replied, sounding slightly amused. "Let's hope it works."

"Deadpool always said we live in a comic book world. If that's true then he'll probably be fine." Darcy muttered, patting the Hulks hand and sitting up to accept a cup of coffee from the returning agent.

Tony snorted. "Seems as good a theory as anything else I've come up with," he stood, grabbed a cup off the tray, and chugged it like it was water while he paced. "Loki was the one who chose where the invasion would take place. He's the one in charge. So where would you start an invasion if you were a diva with daddy issues?" he asked the room at large.

Darcy shrugged. "Over a new age Odin temple?" she asked dryly.

Tony considered it, and then he batted the idea away impatiently. "Nah. This isn't about Odin right now. It's about Thor. He took Selvig, threatened you… he's going after us too, trying to rattle us. He's made it personal."

Steve looked unsure. "I don't think that's the point."

Tony's pacing back and forth, his words going a mile a minute. "No, it _is_ the point. That's Loki's point. He's not a soldier. He's an angry little boy who wants to break his brother's toys, he wants to make a point. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it."

"Right, I caught his act at Stuttengard." Steve replied.

"Right, but that's just a preview, this is opening night. Loki's a full tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered all over it..." he stopped abruptly, looking shocked. "Son of a bitch."

It took Darcy a second to connect the dots, but then she got it. "He's stealing your penis building!" she blurted out.

Tony beamed at her. "She's smart. Isn't she smart? Your girl's smart." He told Hulk.

Fury crossed his arms. "You think he's opening the portal above Stark Tower?"

"I don't think, I know. Loki is me, only with four thousand years of family issues and bad hair."

"That's reassuring." Fury muttered, even as he's ordering someone to tell one of the jets to prepare for takeoff, destination New York.

Rogers leaned forward, a frown marring his all American features. "So we have a location, but how do we stop it?"

"Right now the only ones guarding the Tesseract are human. No gods or aliens. We have to stop it before it starts." Tony pointed out, his fingers dancing over his phone, presumably communicating with his AI. "I'm initiating lock down of the tower. No one's getting in or out without Jarvis knowing about it."

Was that all it took? Just locking the door? The concept seemed impossible, but it made sense. Steve relaxed slightly and next to Darcy, Hulk shifted, bored by all the talking and disappointed at the escaping opportunity to smash things. Then Tony's phone beeped, and Jarvis's voice came over the speakers. "Sir, I'm afraid the system has been compromised. Sensors indicate unknown persons on the roof. I believe it is the individuals you are looking for."

"Well shit." Tony muttered. He bent down, pressing a button on his suitcased armor, which unfolded into the suit. He frowned, examining his armor critically. "I'm going to need to make some repairs before I can fly again. Someone get some welding tools onto the jet for me. Jarvis, prepare the Mark VII. We're going to have to skip the bells and whistles. And cut the power to the roof. They're not using my arc reactors to power their little portals."

"Yes sir." Jarvis replied.

Steve stood and looks at Phil who's been standing slightly behind them. "Where's Agent Romanoff? She seems like the type of dame who'd want to be in on this."

Phil nodded. "I'll go inform her and see if she and Agent Barton are combat ready."

The Hulk grinned fiercely down at Darcy. **"SMASH."**

She grinned back, slightly less thrilled. "You bet big guy. ET's gonna piss themselves when they see you coming."

Tony looked up at her consideringly. "Hey Lewis, you ever wanted to be a super hero? I have other suits. I don't normally let other people use them but…we might need the help."

"Tony!" Steve yelped, shocked.

Darcy's eyes widened at the offer, and then she's shaking her head. "I'd love to, but I'm not the Iron Woman type. I always got my ass kicked in first player video games, I'd rather not see if that carries over to real life. There's no reset button."

Tony nodded, looking slightly disappointed. "If we all live through this I'll give you lessons."

"I just might take you up on that," she replied, a warm feeling battling with the cold dread she felt.

Fury announced that communications were back online at the same time Phil returned with Natasha-or was it Natalie? Tony had called her both names- and a man she vaguely recognized from Puente Antiguo with what looked like a quiver of arrows on his back, who could only have been Agent Barton in tow, both looking determined, if not bruised.

"Agent Barton, are you up to flying the quinjet?" Fury demanded.

The man nodded. "Yes, Sir." He spared a glance at her, obviously wondering what she was doing there, but dismissed it, eyes returning to Fury.

"Then get going. And go pick up Thor on the way. Our scanners show he's somewhere beneath us." Darcy breathed a sigh of relief at the news and Steve, Natasha, and Barton swiftly make their way out of the room. Tony returned his armor to suitcase size and started to follow them, but paused to glare at Fury. "Just so you know, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because of people like Pepper and the little Hulk tamer over there. And this does not make me part of your super secret boy band."

"You didn't fit the profile anyway, remember?" Fury replied.

Tony snorted, winked at her, and then takes off at a run.

The Hulk looked down at her, expectantly. **"HULK GO?"**

"Yup. Time to go smash stuff," she agreed with forced cheerfulness.

**"TINY WATCH?"** he asked, and it was kind of adorable.

"You betcha. I'll be watching from here." Darcy told him firmly, standing up to wrap her arms around his middle. He huffed, patting her head affectionately and said, **"TINY NO LET BANNER RUN LIKE BETTY. HULK STAY WITH TINY AND METAL MAN."**

And she can't help the tears that leapt to her eyes, it's been a long few days without any sleep, and she kind of thinks she's falling in love with her shy ex-professor and his enormous alter ego. "I'll tase him if he tries." She promised him solemnly.

He smirked and then barreled off down the hallway, denting the walls as he banged against them.

She sighed and slumped back into her chair. After a moment she looked up and found Fury watching her shrewdly. She raised a tired eyebrow.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you really were Deadpool's kid." He told her. "You're about as crazy as he is."

"No risk, no reward," she countered with a yawn, the coffee not having putting a dent in her exhaustion.

"Yeah. I can see that." He paused and then said. "You know Banner's not going to allow himself have feelings for you. He's the martyr type."

She blinked, surprised at him. "I know. And I know he and Doctor Ross have a star crossed romance thing going on. But both sides of him need someone, someone who's not going to run away. And star crossed romances don't last. They burn out eventually. And maybe one day he'll turn around and see me."

"You might be in for a damn long wait."

She grinned. "I don't think Tony's going to let either of them go anywhere. And he's seems to ship us, so I don't think I'll be going anywhere either if he has anything to say about it."

He snorted in agreement. "Stark gets ideas in his head and holds on as tighter than a pit bull."

He turned away and ordered various agents to do various things she didn't bother to follow, eyes instead watching out the large windows as a small jet flew past.


	3. Chapter 3

Pajamas

part 3 of 3

By Selina Novella

**AN - TRIGGER WARNINGS!**

Those with problems with wars, battles, etc, please do not read this chapter. This is essentially an alien version of 9/11 with actual battle thrown in. People will die. I do not mean to trigger anyone, or hurt anyone. So please read with caution.

I am sorry this chapter took so long to write. Classes are starting up again on Monday, and my updating will be much slower as a result. But I wanted to finish this and hopefully get the epilogue out before it does.

As a result this is unbeta'd. Sorry.

Darcy raised her head off her arms when she felt another presence next to her. She glanced over to see Agent Who's-name-is-apparently-Phil looking at her thoughtfully.

"What?" she asked, feeling exhausted. The whole staying up for two days straight, being on an emotional roller coaster that just wouldn't end, and the possibly falling in love thing which she wasn't going to say was 100% because you just don't make those kinds of decisions when you're incontinent! but she was sure that she felt something, something big and that Bruce was someone she wanted to be around, and help and protect and be protected and so many other things. But either way, exhausted. Definitely. And needed a shower. Gross.

"I am going to need to do so much paperwork for this." He told her, with a self deprecating smile. "Recommendations to keep on a political science graduate around as a Hulk Tamer is going to raise a few eyebrows, even in Shield." He looked at her carefully. "Are you sure you want to do this? Director Fury told me you did, but I feel it's my responsibility to make sure, that you understand what you're getting into."

"I know what I'm getting into. I went to Culver." She told him dryly.

"And you have handled yourself very well for a civilian with no training. Beyond all expectation," he agreed. "Are you interested in an official position with Shield?"

"Thanks and no. I don't like you people very much. You steal things that don't belong to you and build death traps for good people just because you can't control them. You also build weapons of mass destruction. I'm against those. Plus if Bruce ever found out I was hired to keep him under control it might put a crimp in any possible relationship."

He looked amused. "Borrowed, and fair enough. I know Stark offered you a job as his personal assistant. If you decide to accept it, I can arrange meetings with Agent Romanoff and Pepper Potts, his only former PAs who lasted more than a week. It might be to your advantage," catching her wary expression he added "Call it a thank you, for aiding in recapturing Loki."

"I'll think about it." Darcy said after a minute.

He smiled. "That's all I ask."

"Look, I need to make a phone call, so if you could…?" she gestured, and he acquiesced, probably assuming she was calling someone she knew in New York to get out of town. She imagined a lot of agents made calls like that, even if it was frowned upon and against procedure or something.

But she wasn't doing that. She pulled out Tony's phone and carefully typed in a number she'd memorized four years ago, and waited for the ring.

"You've reached the guy who won't die! When did I show up in this fic? I thought I was just a throw away cameo." came a jovial and loud voice over the phone.

Darcy shrugged it off, she was used to Deadpool by now. "Hey Dad, you got some time on your hands?" she asked

"For the sake of plot convenience, of course I do! What's up Sugar Butt?" He asked. She could imagine him in one of those old desk chairs swinging around like a maniac, possibly upside down.

"There's an alien invasion happening in New York, a bunch of super heroes are trying to stop it from happening, but I don't know if they'll get there in time. You busy?" She started to tell him only to be interrupted.

"Hmm… well it depends on if this is an epic battle fic or a happy fluffy fanfic. What's happened so far?" he asked

So now life's a fanfic. Huh. "Uh, let's see… my friend almost died, I kicked a god in the balls and then the Hulk smashed him like a bug, several people are dead, lots wounded, and I got a job offer from Tony Stark." She listed off wearily.

"Awesome, that means you're the star of this show! Which only makes sense if you're my kid. So you'll live, which is good. But if I'm in this, chances are the invasion will happen. Lots of blood and death and gore probably. Which means PARTY TIME: Deadpool style! I'm gonna grab my guns, guns, explosives, katana, guns and my door knob collection! I'm off to kill things! Yay! See ya later Sugar Booger!"

There was a click and she looked at the phone, which blinked **CALL ENDED** at her. She rolled her eyes. "Well, he'll either help save the world, or cause a huge mess and distract the Chitauri. Either works." She muttered.

She looked up and jerked back, finding Fury glaring about two inches from her face. "Ohmygodwhatthefuckbarbeque!?" she yelped, "Don't do that One-Eye! I only have one pair of clothes and they're already covered in dust and alien god blood, I don't need to pee myself too!"

"Ms Lewis, I know I did not just overhear you talking to DEADPOOL of all people." He growled at her, ignoring her previous statement.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you it's rude to eavesdrop?" She asked, not answering his question.

"Lewis, I am ready to throw you in the brig next to Loki. If it weren't for the fact that you seem to have both Stark and the Hulk wrapped around your tiny little fingers, I would. Now what the hell were you thinking?" He demanded

"I was thinking that the more people the chitauri have gunning for them the better. I figure having a guy with a healing factor and a shit load of weapons, who is willing to do me a favor and help out my friends is a good thing." She replied.

"You think it's a good idea to get help from a guy who thinks he lives in a comic book?!" he demanded.

"Fanfic." She corrected.

"What?" he looked at her blankly.

"He thinks we're in a fanfic right now. It's a story written by fans about a comic book series, a movie, books or other popular things." She smiled innocently at him.

He threw up his hands in frustration. "I give up. You're both insane. Any damage he does is coming out of your paycheck." He told her, stalking away like an angry bear, ignoring her protests that she doesn't have a paycheck.

"Sir! The portal has opened!" One the aids yelled to Fury. "And we've got communications back up!"

"Get the Pentagon, Marines, NYPD and anyone else who can help if this goes belly up on the line. We've got work to do people!" Fury bellowed to the surrounding Shield monkeys, who swiftly went to work doing his bidding.

Darcy bit her lip and turned her eyes to the large screens, which had picked up video from what appeared to be traffic cameras, web cams, satellites, and security cameras all over New York. And the various news networks, which had jumped on the story immediately apparently.

The portal was frightening, the moving blue crystal light shot up and up and up into the sky before it began to rip, to tear, making a horrible black rent in the middle of the sky. It was like this dark gaping mouth, and even who knows how many miles away, Darcy felt chills run up and down her spine, because something about that tear, about what was on the other side, was so fundamentally contrary to what she knew, it was against existence, against life. It was _wrong._

And then she almost cried out, because things were coming out of that tear, and they had to be the Chitarui, but the creatures felt as wrong as the hole did. She hadn't ever realized that on some level everything you saw had this underlying feeling of life, of beauty – even things that you classified as ugly like insects or anglerfish, they were unquestionably alive. These things were utterly dissonant. They were not alive, they were just this… this vacuum. And Bruce and Tony, her friends, people she cared about, maybe loved? were about to fight these… empty beings. She shuddered, and then she was just watching the events that unfolded.

Hulk was having FUN. He wasn't sure what the blue light was, or who the other people were, who were smashing the puny uglies with him. There were enough to go around, so he was willing to share. The hammer man was calling lightning from the sky and hitting the puny uglies like bugs. The Tin Man who was Tony, the man who liked him and Tiny, was flying about shooting them with his hands and feet. Red hair was using guns, which Hulk did not like, but at least they were not aimed at him this time. Arrow shooting man was on a ledge shooting strays. And the Sad Man was throwing his metal Frisbee at them.

There was so much to smash, and his heart was pounding and he felt like he could fly. The wind whipped through his hair, and he knew the cameras were watching, that Tiny was watching, and so he made sure to smash extra hard.

Like metal man had said, Hulk was tired of running. Of being feared, of getting shot at. He was REALLY tired of being shot at. He was tired of people screaming when they saw him. He was tired of Banner hating him and pushing him away at every opportunity. Banner was supposed to be so smart, yet he didn't understand Hulk was PROTECTING him. Instead Banner hurt himself, tried to kill them both. Didn't Hulk have any say in this? Well obviously he did, since he'd been the one to spit the bullet out. Still. Hulk was angry with Banner for that.

Tiny reminded him of Betty in some ways. They were both pretty. And Tiny did not fear him. Or, she did, but she smashed her fear into little pieces and talked to him. Really talked. Probably too much, but Hulk was not going to say no to a friend just because they talked too much. Maybe it meant they thought a lot too. Tiny would protect him from the men who wanted to put him in a cage. Would use her words and her brain until she got him out. He was pretty sure he could have smashed his way out, but having someone who cared enough to do it, that was nice.

Tiny knew what was going on. More than he did anyway. That was why he would listen to her. She made the one eyed man angry, but he did not hurt her. She was strong. And she had him now to protect her. But he liked that she smashed things. Had smashed the puny god with him. No one had smashed with him before. That was when he had decided to stay with Tiny. Betty had made Banner sad, and then Banner had run away. And Betty had let him. Hulk wasn't sure what to make of that. If she loved them why did she let him go? But Tiny was to be protected. He had decided that. He would protect her, and Tin Man who liked him and liked Banner and smelled like metal and grease, and lightning and who talked as much as Tiny did. He missed Betty sometimes, when Banner did. Betty was quiet and gentle. Tiny was loud and talkative, and she liked to smash too. Very different. But both good.

He glanced up at the sky as a very, very, very big thing came out of the hole. He grinned viciously. This might be a challenge. He didn't have many of those, aside from the Abomination last year. Banner called it that. It was a very long word. Most things he smashed broke like twigs. This though, would take work. It took a few leaps and then he was on top of the thing, and broke through the shell showing the soft parts underneath. Tin man came to help, and together they made the turtle thing fall from the sky, Tin Man shooting his hot lights into the hole they'd made. They fell from the sky on it, like surfers he'd seen in Chile, on a surfboard the size of a building. The crash made his ears hurt, and they landed on a small shiny building.

Then more came from the sky, more puny uglies on their flying carts and more turtle beasts. He saw Red Hair fly up onto the big building and talk to someone there, and then smash him in the head. Hulk laughed. Everyone smashed now. It was like a party, like one of his fuzzy memories of Banner's early birthday parties.

The sad man was fighting down below, telling men in uniforms what to do. He did not like Frisbee man very much. He did not like Banner or Hulk, thought they were dangerous. Hulk did not like Banner either, but he was his Banner to not like, no one else's. Red hair stank of fear around him. But she was polite and Tiny had said not to smash her, so he didn't. He did not know Arrow man. Did not understand why he liked to smash from far away with flying pointy sticks. Maybe someday he would teach Arrow man to smash better.

He raised his head to the sky to roar a challenge to the incoming turtle monster, which screamed in answer.

Punch. Punch. Smash. Jump. Roar. Smash. Roar. Punch. Elbow. Kick.

This was good, this was fun. Tin Man laughed in his metal suit. Hulk laughed too.

Another man joined in, and he shot guns and jumped and danced and cut puny uglies heads off with the biggest knife Hulk had ever seen. He laughed a lot and yelled at the puny uglies and called them stupid and threw parts of doors at them, knocking them off their rides. Hulk wasn't sure about this man. He smelled sick, but he did not fight like he was. One puny uglie stabbed him with a glowy stick. The man had just giggled and shot a bullet through the uglies head. Strange man.

Darcy watches. It looks impossible. There are too many of them, too many chitauri spread out over too wide an area. Store fronts are on fire, windows explode from the heat, and people are screaming and dying. Deadpool's arrival aided slightly, but it seemed to be nowhere near enough. Even without Loki around to guide them, the Chitarui seemed to know exactly what they were doing. When the enormous prehistoric looking monsters came out, and from them spewed more foot soldiers, Darcy felt despair tighten its grip around her heart.

"Marine's are on their way! Police are in position, attempting to evacuate! National Guard is gearing up, ETA time half an hour! Air Force has launched two fleets so far, four more are preparing for takeoff. Navy is enroute to Hudson Bay! Firefighters and other personnel are being sent in from New Jersey, New York and Delaware." One agent on the coms reported.

"The President's declared a state of emergency and made a declaration of war. We have full governmental backing." another announced.

"I've got Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four on the line sir!"

"Transfer it to my comm!" Fury ordered, before talking very rapidly into his blue tooth.

"Professor Xavier is evacuating his school, but some of the staff is in route to New York!"

"Spiderman just joined the battle sir!"

"I've got Daredevil on Park Avenue!"

"Mutant civilians are joining the fight!"

"Fantastic Four have engaged a ship on fourth!"

"Sir, the council demands to speak with you immediately!"

"NOW?!" Fury bellowed, looking like he wanted to scream. He waved at the brunette woman and Agent Phil to take over, and stomped into a side room.

"Magneto has hijacked line 4! He's offering his assistance in exchange for a cessation of hostilities!" One rather frightened operator announced.

"Accept his offer, but make sure he knows this is not a deal. He is still a wanted criminal." Agent responded calmly; one hand on the shoulder of the operator, looking unflustered at the mass murderer on the screen.

"Emergency Medical Service area's are being set up outside of New York!"

"All subways have been rerouted to remove civilians from the attack zone. All companies have ceased fares for the remainder of the emergency! Police are directing civilians there now. All tracks are currently unblocked!"

"The coast guard is ferrying civilians to Newark and the surrounding area! Civilian crafts are being commandeered for the same!"

"The Merchant Marines are being called in for transportation!"

"Hospitals, schools, air ports, hotels and shelters in the surrounding states are preparing for an influx of civilians!"

"Air force has arrived! Focusing all attacks on the leviathans!"

"Police focusing on civilian evacuation and foot soldiers!"

"Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes aka Iron Patriot has arrived!"

It was like something out of a dream. Super heroes, gods and mutants flew through the sky, blasting fire and lightning at flying aliens next to jets and helicopters. The streets are filled with abandoned cars and taxis, people are running and screaming in terror. Magneto made his presence known by the enormous crane that rose from one of the remaining buildings and drove itself like a spear through one of the leviathan's shells. A female figure joined Thor in directing the lightning at the worm hole, while below a woman with red hair joined Natasha and began directing various flying objects at the flying chariots.

The supers stayed on the interior for the most part where the chitaruri were clustered, while the humans, both civilian and military, focused on the ones that got away from them. Even so, it was chaos. Darcy's horrified gaze on the battle was interrupted by Fury grabbed her shoulder hard, glaring at her consideringly."Lewis, Coulson said you were the one who hacked into the DMV data base and created a record for Thor. Is he correct in this?"

"Yes sir."

"I've got a problem. And you just might be the woman I'm looking for to fix it." When she looked incredulous at the idea that she could do anything helpful right now, he glared at her. "I need four people traced. And I need it done by someone who doesn't have loyalty to them. Can you be that person?"

She shrugged. "If I can. Who am I hunting down?"

"Good. If you can get Stark's computer to help you it'll be easier. They're known as the World Security Council. And right now they're putting pressure on me to send a nuke into New York City, and if I say no they might just try to do it anyway."

She stared at him, dumbfounded, and then launched herself from her chair into one of the un-occupied consoles, yanking on a headset and typing in the phone number that had connected her to Jarvis on Tony's phone what felt like days ago. It rung and then to her relief a British voice answered.

"I'm afraid Mister Stark is unable to answer the phone, as he's busy trying to save the world, may I take a message?" A rather angry British voice snapped after a second or two of ringing.

"Jarvis?" She asked hopefully. "This is Darcy Lewis, and we're all in a shit load trouble, I need your help! There's a nuke!"

There was a momentary silence and then intensely, "What do you require Miss Darcy?" Which was brilliant. Tony deserved a pat on the back and a round of applause, cause Jarvis? Jarvis was the man.

Working with Jarvis was like being in a hurricane. The data was flying across the screen at thousands of miles per second, so fast that she couldn't hope keep up. He bashed through firewalls like they were tissue paper, ripping through reams and reams of information, dismissing most of it as irrelevant. It took them what felt like an eternity but was probably only about five minutes before they found the first one, after that it went much quicker, and then she was running up to Fury, who was glaring at his bosses' shadowed faces on the monitors, the battle showing behind them, while details of the battle and attempts to coordinate the various groups were shouted across the room.

"Director Fury, the council has made its decision." The guy in the second panel announced.

"I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid ass decision that will end the lives of millions of people, destroy the United States military forces as well as the entire economy, I've elected to ignore it. Because you people've gotta be out of your minds to think this is a good idea!" He snarled, shaking with rage. "There are people out there fighting to save our world! Are dying to save all of our lives! And you're not even willing to give them the chance to fight?!"

"They were well aware of the dangers Colonel Fury when they signed up. But this is a threat that could destroy the entire world. We cannot in good conscience leave it in the hands of a few soldiers and a group of freaks and monsters."

"A FEW soldiers!?" Fury squawked incredulously, before noticing her. "You can all cool your butts a second." He told them as he strode over to her, ignoring their complaints.

"Please tell me you know who these self-righteous fuck ups are?" he demanded.

She smiled viciously.

"Good. Tell me."

She did. A Kennedy who supposedly spent her time writing novels, a banker from Germany, a British accountant, and an Indian merchant. All secretly some of the most powerful people on the planet. All with families. All with something to lose, should their identities be released, even if they tried to explain their actions away with "the greater good". A nuke wouldn't close the portal. It would just clear the way for the ones still on the other side.

He matched her grin. "Excellent. Thank Stark's computer for me." He strode back to the vid screens, smirking victoriously.

"Well Director, I hope you have finished your business?" the woman asked haughtily, over the various reports of the battle still being thrown around the bridge.

"Oh, I think it was time well spent, _Felicia_." He replied, standing at ease and a shit eating grin on his face. "So sorry to keep you waiting, Mark, Dieter, Ajay."

There was utter silence on the monitors.

His expression turned menacing. "Now I'm going to assume you're smart people. If you send a nuke at New York, you're also going to get the blame. I am not covering your asses when the President starts asking exactly who's at fault for that. I'm going to tell him your names, your addresses, your social security numbers, hell, I'll even tell him your shoe size. And every single person on Earth and on Asgard – whose Prince you'll have killed, is going to know it too. Am I getting through to you here?"

It was Felicia who whispered, "It's already in motion. We can't stop it."

Fury's single eye widened, and then he was running out of the room like a bat out of hell.

Hill was yelling on the coms "Anyone on the deck, we have a rogue bird! We need to shut it down, I repeat! Take off is not authorized!"

All movement on the bridge was frozen for a second, before Hill yelled "Until it happens we are going to act like the world is not ending yet! Return to your duties!"

A tense minute or two passed and then they heard Fury's voice and he was talking to Iron Man.

"Stark, you hearing me? We have a missile headed straight for the city."

"Yeah, Jarvis told me. How long?"

"Three minutes, at best. Stay low and wipe out the missile." Fury ordered.

Darcy watched, her heart in her throat as the blue small dot that was Iron Man intercepted the small red dot that was the nuke. The fighting continued on the screens, none of the men and women fighting for their lives and for their planet aware of the betrayal of those they counted on to protect them. Wolverine and Captain America were fighting back to back against a swarm on the ground. Spiderman was being helped down into the subways, limping and bleeding.

Black Widow's voice on the coms. "I've got a telepath here! She says Selvig made a way we can close the portal! But we need the scepter!"

Darcy was out of the room before she could hear the response.

The scepter was in the remains of the broken lab, almost forgotten in the subsequent panic. Someone had leaned it up against the remains of one wall, where it glowed innocently. Darcy snatched it, ignoring the burn of the hot metal against her skin, simultaneously glad it was so easily located and berating herself for her own earlier plan to destroy it.

She ran back up the various halls in her bare feet, swerving around personnel, almost poking out a guys eye with the tip several times, swearing furiously when she made a wrong turn and had to back up, finally reaching the bridge again and thrust it into Fury's waiting hands.

"One off switch!" She panted.

"Sitwell! Take one of the remaining jets! I need that portal closed yesterday! Grab some of the phase two weapons, take a squad of agents. This can not be delayed, get it to the roof immediately!" He bellowed at one of the officers who didn't stop to salute but grabbed the staff and ran from the room.

"Thor, chick with lightning! Hold off on your attack for a minute will you?" Iron Man's voice came across the coms clearly.

"What? They're holding off part of a fleet Stark!" came Cap's horrified voice as the lightning dwindled and more of the monsters came pouring out of the wormhole.

"I've got a nuke coming in! It's gonna blow in less than a minute! And I know just who I want to give it to!"

He's visable now, through the chaos that still crowds the sky like a swarm of locusts, a red and gold blur with a giant missile on his back, using every ounce of strength to try to aim it at the hole in the sky. But it's not working. The arc of assent is too wide, it's going to miss.

Darcy can't help the small scream of fear and frustration and anger that escapes her lips.

Then Hulk is there, and he's hit the damn thing on the nose, and now it's pointing straight up, and is going up, up, up into the rent in the sky, Iron Man and all those in the bridge watching its accent, their collective breath held.

And then it's through. And there's an explosion that even as far away from the city below as it had to be, caused a concussive blast that shattered every remaining window in what had to be all of twelve blocks.

If it was a fairy tale, or a movie, that would be the end, the army would fall down and the good guys would win. But it's not a fairy tale, and the army already there is still fighting, and there is still a portal to another world in the sky above New York, and those on the other side are probably pretty damn angry right now.

There are still at least fifteen leviathans flying around, knocking over buildings with their bulk, the military jets attempting to break through their heavy shells, or failing that to at least corral them to minimize damage.

"Sitwell's ETA is five minutes sir!" An agent called out.

"Swell." Fury muttered, punching one of the World Security Council's screens in frustration, leaving a large crack down the middle.

Iron Man and the Hulk rejoined the fight, attacking one of the leviathans. Magneto was working on another two, his metal projectiles attempting to find weak points in the hard armor. Mr. Fantastic was stretched tightly around a sky scraper, The Invisible Woman using force fields on it, both attempting to hold it together long enough to be evacuated. The Human Torch is setting the Chitauri foot soldiers on fire, a steady stream of it burning them to ashes. Thor and the other lightning user return to attempting to cut off the doorway, but a distant roar and their fearful glances at one another make it clear that the forces on the other side are regrouping, and angry.

They're winning, Darcy can see, the numbers of Chitaruri are dwindling, but so are the number of fighters for earth. Planes and jets have been shot down and crash into surrounding buildings, trucks, tanks and ships have been overturned and left burning, the dead and injured left to die by their attackers. If they do win, it will be a very painful victory. The original count of heroes is down too. Deadpool is still jumping from chariot to chariot happily assassinating it's riders, but Hawkeye has been reported found unconscious from the concussive blast earlier. Reports come in of those now MIA: a mutant called Cyclops, Daredevil, another mutant named Ice Man and his partner Pyro. A report comes in that Spiderman didn't make it onto the subway car, having bleed out on the way. Most have sustained injuries, Thor's cloak is in tatters.

"ETA three minutes!"

Chitaruri stream forth from the portal and with them another five leviathans. Iron Man is flying crookedly, Deadpool's lost one of his arms and is hunting for it, and Magneto is stabbed in the shoulder by one of the Chitarui on a chariot.

"They've landed!"

Darcy can't follow Sitwell and his team. There's simply too much chaos, too many blind spots as cameras are destroyed by falling buildings or they lose electrical power, or are simply focused on the wrong thing. It seems to take hours. Hours while she watches so many people die. Then. Finally. The energy that feeds up to the portal stops. The remainder is sucked up until there is none left, the portal closes in on itself, like a dying star about to turn into a black hole. And every remaining Chitarui falls were they stand, those flying crash to the ground with the force of multiple earthquakes.

There is a sort of pause, a moment of silence so absolute its ear piercing. Then the wails of the sirens, the sounds of collapsing masonry, the distant shouts and yells of civilians and emergency response teams resume.

The original Avengers initiative group, minus Hawkeye, join the X-men and the Fantastic Four in further evacuation – directing those unwounded where to go, digging through the rubble with help from several telepaths and other mutants who can in some way sense those trapped underneath. Magneto's group is more focused on destroying the remains of the Chitaruri, not trusting humans with the tech or whatever their rational is. Darcy would normally agree with them, but right now, she's so tired, so emotionally drained, that she doesn't even notice nor would she care if she did, when she passes out.

**AN - There will be an epilogue, which I will post as soon as I am able. I really appreciate reviews, this turned into more of an epic battle scene then I thought it would, I am generally not very good at those, having very little practice.**


End file.
